Mayra Bueno Silva lost her attempt to claim the UFC bantamweight title at UFC 297 due to an ear injury that affected her performance and balance, and plans to return to training after seeing a specialist.
Mayra Bueno Silva didn’t quite clinch the UFC bantamweight title at UFC 297. She blames an ear injury for her less-than-stellar performance.
Silva started strong. She even had Pennington on the ropes with a rear-naked choke in the first round. But, according to her chat with MMA Fighting, the injury in the second round threw her off her game.
“Got a bit of an ear injury, but other than that, I’m feeling good, ready for a comeback,” Silva shared. Raquel landed a solid hit on my ear, partially tearing my eardrum. Threw my balance off. But hey, that’s the game.”
Silva, also known as “Sheetara,” experienced her first UFC loss as a bantamweight at UFC 297. This was after her move up from flyweight in 2022. She’s bummed she couldn’t execute “anything we planned for this fight.”
“After the strike that caused the injury, I just couldn’t read the fight, couldn’t understand what was happening,” Silva admitted. “Props to her for landing a good strike that took me out of the fight.
“I’m still nursing my wounds. Haven’t had time to analyze the fight, figure out what went wrong. We’re still kind of in a daze,” she added.
Silva, hailing from Brazil, plans to see a specialist to figure out when she can get back to training. She’s betting on Pennington to defend the belt successfully against Julianna Peña next. As for her next fight, Silva’s got a few potential opponents in mind if the timing aligns.
“There are two athletes who don’t have a fight scheduled, and I think they’d be good matches for me,” Silva said. “First, Irene Aldana. That’s a fight we could do, but first, I need to wait and see what the doc says. Don’t wanna be out too long. I wanna get back in the ring soon.
“I’ve also considered Miesha [Tate], but let’s see what the UFC has in store. Maybe Miesha would be a good name,” she mused.
The UFC women’s bantamweight division got a boost recently with the signing of two-time PFL lightweight champion Kayla Harrison. Harrison plans to drop down to 135 pounds to face Holly Holm in her UFC debut at UFC 300 on April 13.
“Kayla’s gonna do great,” Silva predicted. Harrison, a teammate at Florida’s American Top Team, is a pro. “She wouldn’t take on a challenge she didn’t think she could handle. I think she’s gonna do great [at bantamweight].”
Silva, who trains with Harrison and has previously submitted Holm in the octagon, is backing the former PFL star to knock out “The Preacher’s Daughter” in Las Vegas and step into title contention next.
“We’ve got competition right in our backyard now,” Silva joked. “But it’s all good. Kayla’s a sweetheart. This is work, and she’s chasing her dream just like I am, so no problem whatsoever.”